To Odeon and Beyond

Tomorrow is the day that will see Beautiful Waste screened in the Odeon cinema. Its been a long journey to this point but we are finally here and I am very excited to see my work on the big screen. Often I am asked what would I change and I can say that I wouldn't chance a thing, the film is what was wanted to achieve. 

Joe and Steven told me a bit about the test screening and that there was a few problems. In Beautiful Waste there was a bit of pixelation in the first 30seconds. Steven believes that the reason for this is the fact that the film was burnt onto a disc. We have now came to a solution that the films are going to be played through my MacBook Pro so all the films will have a higher quality and will not have any problems. (Although Joy is still freaking out) 

Tomorrow Thursday 6th of June the screening will be happening at 6.30pm in Victoria Square Belfast. I want to say a big thank you to you all whole have been on this journey with me and what a roller coaster it has been. 

Splendid!!! We Have A Film!!!!

Well guys as you could of guessed from the last post we have a FILM!!! Oush! 

I am very proud to announce this to the rest of the world and what we have created is very clear and clever creative piece of cinematography. the test screening is tomorrow although we cannot go to Im hoping Sharon and Joe will come back with fantastic new that nothing is wrong sound or picture wise. ( Or we will be bricking it) 

Here is just a sneak peek into the inside of our film below.

Just a wee taste of whats to come. 

Waiting For The Drum Rolls

After fixing all the corrections Sharon had talked to us about she told us to show it to Joe. Sharon had confidence in us that we would have the film done and that she would look at the final edit on Thursday 30th May which is the final hand in date.

When Joe watched what we thought was the final cut he said that the noise at the end of the city wasn't in your face enough. I had a conversation with Joy about this and we decided that we didn't want to take away from what we've got, when I went to check the levels I notice that they were up as far as they could go at the end of the day its our film and we are a small fish being thrown in to the world and we will have to make our own decisions.

Do we have a final cut of the film? Find out next time on Blogger (class theme tune playing in your head)

The Lengths You Go To For Feedback

As Sharon is only in once during the week we needed to find a away in which Sharon could see the edit and give us feedback. To do this i had to export the video in quicktime and up load it to You Tube. I made the video private so only Sharon would be able to see the latest edit. This helped a lot because once we knew what was needed to change I could get straight onto the edit. Over all I had to do this three times and it was very helpful constructive feedback.

When receiving feedback from Sharon there was a recurring theme of what needed to be fixed and this was the sound. There was a few bits of footage that just needed trimmed a wee bit and tided up and we will have the image of the film completed. However an image isn't complete until the sound is completed and flows nicely with the images.

A few problems that Sharon had with the sound that it was to tweety, it worked the first time but after a few watches it was just to repetitive. This isn't just a film we want the viewer to watch once, we want them to question themselves and watch it again.

After we fix these changes we should have a film.

Progress With The Edit

The transition from Final Cut to Premier wasn't that much of scary transition, the key tools are exactly the same as Final Cut. I found premier easy to work with but I was have difficulties with the sound edit,  as I didn't know how to change the levels of a single cut of footage it seemed to chance the levels for the whole video. Once I talked to Keith who is a wizz kid with Premier he showed me how to change an individual clip level.

After talking to Keith I have learnt how to control the levels on Premier, its a lot like Final Cut Pro but you have to unlock the sound bar to alter the sound. I have went from what was a roaring river to a clam steam and from a zoo to a tranquil forest.

For me learning premier has given me more skills as an editor I am confident in both Final Cut and Premier editing systems and this will be a brilliant point on my CV. Now just Avid to accomplish to be the next Walter Murch.

When You Thought There Was Light At The End Of The Tunnel. Oh Wait! There Isn't in Filming.

After a long week it took 2 days to convert the footage from the Cannon FX100 into final cut pro. Joy and I then sat down and watched the rushes of every shot. We then time coded everything from shots that were useless to the most perfect cinematography shots because Ive learnt from an editors point of view that you'll never know what footage you will use with in the edit.

When we started to do the edit on final cut we noticed that each time the footage jumped at each cut as it transitioned. To rectify this we had to put the footage on to premier this is an adobe version of final cut which meant another day of editing gone. This meant that we were able to work with the un-exported footage and had the fantastic quality that we originally had while filming.

We were also put on the spot to come up with a title because designers came into design a poster. to come up with this title we thought back to the day of shooting and we came up with loads of ideas but none of them worked, the thing I remember most about shooting that there was hardly anybody in it except the few people walking there dogs and it reminded me that its such a beautiful waste.

I Hope They Have A Red Carpet For Me :-\

On Wednesday 15th of May are teacher joe told us the screening dates for the Odeon. The date is the 6th of June which isn't to long away, Joe requires somethings of us, some people say magic has a price and that is the deadlines which for the Odeon screen test is the 29th of May but if the film isn't in for that date the film doesn't get shown, this is the deadline we have to meet if we cant meet this deadline how are we going to make deadlines in future productions.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film on the big screen as our film is unique to any other in the class. This film doesn't have a narrative it is a piece of art in which cinematography takes its purest form. After film Joy was being a bit of a worrier as she doesn't think we have enough footage for a three minute piece, when in fact we had over 4 hours worth of footage to make a dozens of wee pieces.

From experience I have learn that zooming is a big no no especially from an editors point of view. I have learnt a lot from editing bad footage and that you can only work with what you've got. The directors sometimes get disappointed because the footage they wanted is damaged from zooming. I've learnt a lot form working with bad footage and will bring this into this production by taking still beautiful images from a tripod of steadicam.

Heres hoping that the film will as good as I know it can be :)

The Journey From Production to Post Production.

From planning, booking equipment to going on recce's we are finally here, POST PRODUCTION!!!

As I and Joy planned to go shooting on Sunday 12th of May the weather did not agree with our schedule as I was designated checker of weather on this production I checked the weather for Mondays forecast on Sunday night. The weather was sunny with clouds from 6.00am to 8.00am, then we got rain from sun from 8.00am to 10.00am, from then onwards to 12.00pm it was pure sun with no clouds. So let the early start begin.

When I woke from my slumber from 5.00am I automatically went and checked the weather as you know the weather is unpredictable in this country but for the very first time this country shocked me in a good way as the weather as we actually got a descent day as it was sunny with clouds from 6.00am to 8.00am, then we got cloudy weather from 8.00am to 10.00am, from then onwards to 12.00pm it was pure sun I even thought I got a tan.

When we arrived in Castlewellan at 6.00am we didn't hesitate in starting to film. Joy and I noticed that the weather conditions was the same as the recce shoot we then made our decision that we were going to take a different route.

The different route we choose to talk was the outline of the lake which had many alternate paths around it so it wasn't so many shots of lake side because there is only so much you can shoot of the lake side. This shoot was very successful we got some beautiful wide, medium and closeups of the lake and nature surrounding it. The tripod got the brunt of this shoot as it was put in muck and horse poo walking up and down mountains but I would do it again in a heart beat.

Rescheduling is a virtue.

As we know it always rains in the North of Ireland. Joy and I planned to go shooting on Thursday 9th May but it had to be cancelled because the conditions were bad. Even if you continually check the weather you cant fully rely on it because there will probabaly be a fair chance of rain. On the actual day wee plan on shooting we had hail stones, rain and sunshine all in the one day which isn't that shocking thank god for rescheduling and back up plans.

As every good film maker knows its good to have a back up plan as Joy and I planned to book equipment from thursday the 9th of May to tuesday the 14th of May on the of chance there could of been rain (which there was). This was because we had extra days to hope for good weather so we could achieve what we wanted for this film. Even if the weather doesnt turn out good for the 14th of May we will have to go on with the shoot as time is tight as the final cut of the film has to be in for the 24th May.

Heres hoping fingers crossed guys.

The Wall Of Awesomeness.

When Joy and I came back from the recce Sharon had allocated each production team with a wall where we could post different things about the films. On our wall we put up a lot of still of our favourite shots from the recce. This looking at this wall is like coming down on Christmas morning and that magical and wonder feeling you feel is exactly what you feel when you look at our wall.

The plan now is to see where we want to go from here with the stills we will be able to see what we want to achieve through the recce. We plan to film on the other side of the lake so we get a different feel and aspect of the forest. For feeling and continuity aspects we want to get the same weather this isnt lazy we are just afraid if we don't get the same sunny weather as we want to capture the same artistic atmosphere. We plan on filimg between the dates of the 9th until the 14th of May to get the best day to go out and shoot on.

Lights, Camera, Recce.

Joy and I have entered the production stage of this production. We both went down the Castlewellan Forest Park for a recce on the 29th of April however I have a feeling that the footage we took will make it into the final edit. As we walked along the path to ward the back of the castle I spotted an old rusted chair and the footage looks fantastic of this but will it suit in the film.

From the chair we headed on toward the Annesley gardens, the gardens are closed however Joy and I discussed how we could use this in the narrative. We walked around the edge of the gardens and captured the reflection of trees and flowers on the water. We discovered that we came out of the shoot more positive than we did going in and we had a far clearer vision of what this end of year film was going to be about. It was as if the film was right in front of us and we just had to reach out and grasp the opportunity.

Joy talked to me about adding the jaws effect into this film, she explained that we could add the sense of magical creatures we could hear them and sense them but we would never see them. I think this is a good idea and could be an option in the final edit.

Here's some stills of the footage Joy and I captured on the recce.

You Never Know What You Find On Facebook.

One afternoon on the 24th of April  I was casually looking on my Facebook and I came across this image.

After seeing this image I remembered that Joy wanted to capture a full moon for her end of year film. This sort of happened last minute but from seeing the footage it was so worth it. On this shoot Joy had to do this on her own as she lives in the countryside where the skies aren't light polluted. 

After seeing the footage this last minute fluke was worth it because it only happens once a year. One thing that I've learnt that your mind is never of the film, you are constantly think would this work? 

  

This is a screen shot of the rare footage Joy captured on the 25th of April. This goes to show that you never know what you might come across. Lets hope we can fit it into the edit.  

Maya Deren

Maya Deren was born in the Ukraine in April 1917, as war broke out her family moved to the United States where she went to university. After Deren had left university she joined the European émigré art scene where she worked as a editorial assistant and photographer. It wasn't until her father died that she bought a camera a 16mm Bolex camera.

Meshes of the Afternoon was originally meant to be a silent film but Deren's third husband done the sound for it. Meshes of the Afternoon stared Deren and for me it is one of those films that ask the questions and make audiences really think about what they see and hear. 

As in my previous post on Abbas Kiarostami we talked about how we want to capture the essence of the child in the forest but what I am taking of Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon is the editing style I want the film to ask the questions about the child and the forest, will the audience relate to the child or will they question their own childhood, will it make the audience think that their own childhood wasn't all that great or make them question childhood. It may make them question there own children's childhood they may think the child is being destructive where they are only playing in there own world. 

Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami was born in 22nd of June 1940. There isn't much information on him between 1940 and 1970 on how he became interested in film making but in 1970 he made the short Bread and Alley which is one of the first shorts that I have been inspired by which is not a disney short film.

I love that he brings realism to his films and brings true life to his films. Not only a director but Kiarostami has also worked on films as an editor, screenwriter, art director and producer. I believe that Kiarostami let the child be his self to capture the essence and true nature of the child to capture this he would of left the camera on the child for a long time so the child would feel comfortable for example in The Bread and Alley the child is picking its nose as if the camera wasn't there.

Kiarostami is known for using children as main protagonists this is really interesting as we want to get the perception of a child's point of view in the forest.

Kiarostami's films are universal and doesn't  matter if there isn't dialogue or the dialogue is in another language you can still see and understand his work.

Car Trouble :'(

On Friday the 19th of April we planned to do a recce in Castlewellan Forest Park to see how everything would turn out and if we could go around it and see if there is anynice locations we could shoot but alas the big man in the sky had other plans and Joy's car broke down on the M1 of all places!

We have rechedualed for Monday the 29th of April to complete are recce and get something set in stone for the shoot date as we are coming up to the deadline for the ruff cut which is 16th of May so we are under a bit of pressure to get filming.

I was talking to joy about the recce on 29th of April I asked what do we want to capture in Castlewellan forest park and that the cinematography and the edit can come together so that we are both on the same page. Joy was talking about the perception of a child we discussed this and we have some exciting ideas which will be posted up soon so keep your eyes peeled.

Meshes of the Afternoon

Meshes Of The Afternoon is one of the strangest pieces of film I have ever watched. This film takes a few watches to understand. It has alot of repeating images with different chacters such as the girlfirend, but later on we see the a man which we are lead to believe is the boyfriend in the same image, this happens time and time and time again with different characters such as the grim reaper character. The story is like a broken record it keeps repeating until the characters become much clearer in the last repeating scene.

Meshes Of The Afternoon was made in 1943 by Maya Deren the editing in this short i believe this was a head of it times with all the strange shot and the editing techniques, with these brought together I feel that these made the film what it, instead of the audience questioning the film, the film was questioning the audience.

I'll post more about Maya Deren genus in the near future.

Here are some stills from Meshes Of The Afternoon and my views on them:

Here is the link to Meshes Of The Afternoon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S03Aw5HULU

Bread and Alley

The Bread and Alley is a very simple but effective film. The start of the film was very random but as you watch the film you come to understand it. This film is random with random passers by, I originally thought that the boy was in an nightmare where he couldn't escape but as the story developed I could see that the story is about the dog,  we see an old man then come by and the boy sees a light to get by the dog, as they walk down the alley the man turns of just before the dog. The boy then confronts the dog by throwing it a piece of bread, the dog was just hungry and is now following the dog for friendship and food as we come up the boys house his mother comes to the door, the dog is whimpering and the mother shuts the door in its face. As the dog lies down out side the gate another boy comes and the process starts again.

when we were lead to believe the story is about the boy I think its about the dog. I can remember my friends dog sat at the top of the stairs and to get by it you would always have to give him a biscuit. This film can be universally understood it doesn't matter what part of the world you are in. I hope to portray this in our own film.

This film was made in 1970 by Abbas Kiarostami i will talk more about him in future posts.

Here are some stills from Bread in Alley and my views on them:

This image portrays the childhood innocence and shows that we aren't just seeing acting but real life childhood innocence.

I love this still because it reminds me of the maze in Castlewellan I pictured this image just as a test shot as it shows being lost in ones self or a way of showing time traveling nicely from one scene to the next. Often we don't realise how quickly time passes and I feel this portrays this well.







Here is a link to Bread in Alley if you wish to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJBhL7EY4Kg

Our visit to Castlewellan Castle which is not really a castle :O

On Monday myself and Joy went to visit Castlewellan  Castle and the purpose of this was to find out if it would play a purpose in the shoot because the castle forms a big part of the parks history. When we arrived we were greeted by the people who live in Castle we were shown around the castle its self. The castle is now a Christan Conference Centre where local church groups, youth groups, people can stay an for the weekend. The Annseley family have lived in the castle from 1856, before that they lived in cottage nearer the lake and the outline can still be seen today. We are meeting with an historian to find out more about the Annseley Family and the estate later in the future.

We have also took some stills of the castle to see how well it would shoot and to capture stills of places of interest.

We are going up to the park when the weather is better for us to get some stills as we did in the Castlewellan  Castle.

Joys Cinematography Piece

Joy has came a long way as she was force into writing script as she is a cinematographer not writer, after discussing with Joe our head of course Joy decided to do a piece of pure photography, most of the projects this year are fictional pieces. Joys piece is not quite a documentary but it does have aspects of documentary in this cinematography piece.

This cinematography piece has been plan to be shot in Castlewellan forest park Joy has shot her movie Joys Journey in castlewellan forest park before I've got some shots from the movie underneath this paragraph this is what we would like to achieve on the day but with more of a summer theme with a lot more shots of nature and the animals but living in the North of Ireland the weather can be a bit unpredictable and this will have to be plan to the Tee and even then the weather can still be unpredictable we will need to have luck on are side.

Joys inspirations for this piece was from an ex student from six years ago where she did a cinematography piece about the starlings that fly over Albert-bridge i  hope to get some images from this piece or a link on the blog soon.

Me (Brendan) and Joy plan on going out to Castlewellan forest park within the next two week to test out cameras the two cameras that we will be test will be the Z5 and the Cannon FX100 which I've never use before, keep you posted on the test shoot in an up coming post. 

New finalised production teams

After all the commotion of not knowing if I could find a production team on which I could be camera on, I have found a new team but here’s the twist I will joint camera and editor, this is good because it will not be taking on a load of work.

Joy Brown

As I am doing joint camera and editor we will be making a lot of decisions together but she will have the final call on how the piece is shot, this production will be pure photography and will show of the cinematography I will be looking forward to working on this production as it is different from any of the rest of the productions that the class is working on I will be posting about the locations and her inspirations that has influenced Joy in the near future.

Ryan Bolton

As you know I am working on Ryan Bolton’s edit but I am posting this to clarify what productions I am working on, I am still waiting to receive a script from Ryan but I will keep updating what his influences and inspirations are and what I feel he is looking for when I know myself.

Taking to much of a work load

After taking to my teacher today I found out that I didn’t have to work on 3 films but 2 films as we have other projects to work on and this would be to much for one person to handle. Now that I have to find one more production team I would like to find someone on which I could do camera on because on the other production team I’m an editor and would be waiting around to do my job where as in camera work I can be of use and when I’m finished filming the other production should be finished filming and I can go from one straight into the other with the edit.

Sad news guys :-(

The sad news is that Sian let me go from her team. Sian is making her end of year movie in Larne and she needed a crew close to home and that could drive but  I think if I want to get into this industry I feel that I will need to these long journeys away from Belfast but at the end of the day Sian has the final say I think she is just looking out for whats best for her production.

Production Teams

From my previous post I was at a cross roads at what role I wanted to do on Thursday 7th of March my mind was set at  ease as i found out i will be working on two different scripts as an editor and a cinematographer. The teams i am working on are as follows:

Siân Parry

I will be working on her script as cinematographer she will be pitching her script on the 14th of march and this will be her first draft. Once ive heard the script pitch I will be asking her inspiration for the script and asking her which directors influenced her. From this I can go and look at there films to draw some inspiration.

Ryan Bolton

I will be working on his script as the editor, he will also be pitching his script on the 14th of March. I will be asking him where he drew inspiration but ill be looking at from and editor's point of view. I will be asking him films and directors that inspired him so I can go of and look at some films so I can look at the editor styles and bring it to his film.

The third script I will have to do an editor or camera position. This will determine what I will get marked on for the end of year project. On the 14th of March I will be looking out for scripts which interests me, I will present myself to the writer to see if they are looking for either a cinematographer or editor.

Production Timetable

E3
14^th March – Pitch & Scripts (1^st Draft)

E3
21^st March – Assemble Project Teams

E3

11^th April – 2^nd Scripts Draft. (Room Readings)

18^th April – Script & Crew Development

25^th April – Development Wall

2^nd May – 3^rd Scripts Draft

9^th May – Production Planning

16^th May Production

25^th May Rough Cut

1^st Week of June – Final Cut

2^nd week of June Screening in ODEAN Victoria Square (Date to be confirmed)  

Brendan's Beginning

In class we discussed about our end of year project which is a 5 minute film based on our own personal journey which is to be shown in the Odeon.

I have been thinking about this for a while and i was thinking of writing my own film but i couldn't get an idea down on paper. At the moment I'm struggling between being the editor or camera.

I could take the safe role as editor as i have plenty of experience editing or the unsure route of camera where i dont have as much experince as i would editing but i love setting my self challenges and putting myself in an uncomfortble situation and working to the best of my ability.

I would love to do both roles but the brief suggests that we cant do that and get marked on them both, if i were to take both roles i would be taking away from other colleagues.